In Brief
A 13-year-old girl was kidnapped, raped and murdered by the appellant, who was convicted on circumstantial evidence and sentenced to death. The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction based on strong circumstantial evidence including the victim being last seen with the appellant, recovery of her body and clothing at his instance, matching mud samples, and defensive injuries on the victim. However, the Court commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment with a minimum 20-year non-remission period, holding that although the crime was grave and abominable, it did not fall into the 'rarest of rare' category warranting death, given the appellant's young age, lack of criminal antecedents, and possibility of reform."
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